# Pete Buttigieg drops out of the Democratic primary race **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 1, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761 "2020-03-01T23:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/61 "2020-03-02T14:34:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If I’m willing to vote for Bernie Sanders, you should be willing to vote for Joe Biden. This. I have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in my life\* but I will be this November regardless of who he or she is. If the Bernie Bros stamp their feet and hold their collective breath because their guy does not get the party’s nod, they will deserve every bit of the opprobrium that will be heaped upon their heads. \*Or, to be fair, a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/62 "2020-03-02T14:49:04Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I can’t think of anything that would make the US “deserve four more years of Trump.” Rather than burning down the Democratic party, Trump is burning down our global reputation and democratic norms. I can’t stand what he’s doing to this country. I agree. Trump is probably the worst thing to happen to the world in 50 years. If we can’t get out shit together enough to nominate a functioning human being to run against him, that’s the government we deserve. Swinging from dictatorship to oligarchy isn’t a favorable swing. I thought Booker was the best candidate. I loved Pete. I think Warren would be a great President. I’d even vote for Bloomberg. I’m not a Bernie bro by any stretch. He’s like my 5th choice. Nominating Biden is the doubling down on the Hillary mistake and he doesn’t have the capacity to do the job. So yeah, fuck it. Burn the system and bring the revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/63 "2020-03-02T14:52:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Rittersport** : > > My favorite is Warren, followed by Klobuchar, then Biden, Bloomberg, then Sanders, but I will vote for Sanders for sure in the general if he’s there. If I may ask, I’m curious about this ranking. I’ve been considering Sanders and Warren to be basically interchangeable: Both have very similar ideological positions, both seem to be willing to fight for those positions, both are Senators, both are similar in age. But you obviously see a significant difference between them. Why the strong preference for Warren over Sanders? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/64 "2020-03-02T15:09:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If I may ask, I’m curious about this ranking. I’ve been considering Sanders and Warren to be basically interchangeable: Both have very similar ideological positions, both seem to be willing to fight for those positions, both are Senators, both are similar in age. But you obviously see a significant difference between them. Why the strong preference for Warren over Sanders? I’m not **Rittersport** , but I too have a strong preference for Warren over Sanders. Two things: 1. Warren has a track record of being able to work with people to get things accomplished. Sanders doesn’t. He wants to be the leader of a revolution. 2. The filibuster. Sanders’ ‘revolution’ isn’t going to be able to put enough pressure on enough GOP Senators to get anywhere near 60 votes to get bills through the Senate. IOW, they may want essentially the same things, but Warren is realistic and pragmatic enough that she has a chance of accomplishing some of them if elected. I really don’t see that being true with Sanders. Also: 1. Warren is 70, female, and clearly in great shape. Sanders is 78, male, and has recently had some sort of heart incident. (And refuses to release his medical records.) All other things being equal, I’d consider a woman in that age range to be effectively 2-4 years younger than a man of the exact same age. So I’d consider Warren to be functionally more like 10-12 years younger than Sanders - before considering Sanders’ heart problems. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/65 "2020-03-02T15:21:29Z")
What filibuster? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/66 "2020-03-02T15:26:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If I may ask, I’m curious about this ranking. I’ve been considering Sanders and Warren to be basically interchangeable: Both have very similar ideological positions, both seem to be willing to fight for those positions, both are Senators, both are similar in age. But you obviously see a significant difference between them. Why the strong preference for Warren over Sanders? For what it’s worth, I have several relatives with this ranking as well. They are older liberal women who have been Democrats their whole lives. The problem they have with Bernie is the Bernie bros. They believe Bernie’s campaign to have some sexist elements to it and don’t support him due to that. So even though they are on the left to far left end of the political spectrum, they would rather support a moderate before they would support a liberal who has (according to them) a significant element of sexist supporters among his base. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/67 "2020-03-02T15:31:50Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > FWIW 538, aware of the Morning Consult polling, [comes to a different conclusion.](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-buttigieg-dropping-out-isnt-good-for-sanders/) > They think it _increases_ the chance of a brokered convention, by increasing the odds of Warren and Bloomberg getting over 15% where they are close. Yeah, this seems like the largest effect. If someone like Warren goes over 15% in some places where she wouldn’t have with Pete in the race, then that significantly changes the delegate math, even if she herself isn’t going to get close to winning the nomination race overall. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/68 "2020-03-02T15:35:46Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > What filibuster? [William Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(filibuster)), what did you think? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/69 "2020-03-02T15:39:21Z")
I wonder if there are any Buttigieg fans out there who will vote Trump in the general election. It seems odd, but in terms of policies how far apart are they all anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/70 "2020-03-02T16:38:10Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I like Booty-Judge… I’ve always heard his name pronounced ‘Buddha-judge’ – until a couple/few weeks ago, when I was listening to a story on NPR. The woman repeatedly pronounced his name ‘Buttah-gig’. Drove me nuts. (Not that it’s that long a drive to nuttiness.) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/71 "2020-03-02T16:38:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If I may ask, I’m curious about this ranking. I’ve been considering Sanders and Warren to be basically interchangeable: Both have very similar ideological positions, both seem to be willing to fight for those positions, both are Senators, both are similar in age. But you obviously see a significant difference between them. Why the strong preference for Warren over Sanders? My impression is that she’s much more thoughtful and much more reasonable than Sanders. And, her championing the CFPB shows she can get stuff done. When it’s clear that Medicare-for-All is a non-starter, she’ll have the chops to figure out other solutions, and will likely also hire others similarly capable. I don’t see Sanders as being all that willing to bend and there’s no way he’s getting what he wants as is – no one does. I see a higher risk with Sanders of bringing in a purity-tested cabinet (similar to Trump, but in Trump’s case, the purity test is whether they will kiss his ass), and not focusing primarily on competence and skills, but whether they tow the Sanders line on policy. Also, I think she has a better chance of beating Trump – a woman is probably more electable than a Jewish Atheist. He has so many skeletons in his closet (his visits to the USSR, his qualified praise for some of Castro’s policies), plus calling himself a socialist is an own goal – he’s not a socialist (Venezuela, Cuba), he’s a Social Democrat (Sweden, Denmark) and it’s stupid to give the Republicans even more ammo. And, Krugman is a big fan of hers (although he didn’t like her turn towards MfA, and neither do I), and I respect his opinion. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/72 "2020-03-02T16:50:29Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I heard a fairly interesting idea about how to arrange the primaries in the future. By voter turnout. > > Gauge what the voter turnout is as a percentage of registered voters, and then in the next primary season the primary will be held in order of highest to lowest turnout. > > So if Oregon was 34th state to vote this primary but #1 in turnout, they are the first primary state next election cycle. If Iowa was #1 in rank but #29 in turnout they become #29 in rank next time. > > I’m theory, it would incentivize efforts to increase voter turnout which would benefit the party as a whole. Does the order change every four years, based on the previous election year’s turnout? If so, then it might end up locking states in their positions in the order, as there will be higher turnout for the early states, but if there is a clear leader, then later states won’t have much of a turnout as the result has already been decided. Also, if there is an incumbent, turnout might end up being low throughout the country, or biased toward states with open primaries trying to unseat someone from the other party in the Senate or the Governor’s mansion. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/73 "2020-03-02T16:51:12Z")
> [@lel](#): > > I wonder if there are any Buttigieg fans out there who will vote Trump in the general election. It seems odd, but in terms of policies how far apart are they all anyway? Buttigieg “fans” are probably pretty rational people. I can’t see many voting for Trump. (any, really. But there’s always some crazy in any group) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/74 "2020-03-02T16:54:20Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > We will have to see the burn rates as the numbers come in, I’m still shocked the Warren campaign opened an office in the south side of Chicago with the Illinois primary on March I’m in Illinois and saw my first Warren ad an hour ago. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > All other things being equal, I’d consider a woman in that age range to be effectively 2-4 years younger than a man of the exact same age. I live in an old folks home and it is more like 5-10 years younger. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/75 "2020-03-02T17:03:02Z")
I think Buttigieg missed an opportunity to help the party at his speech. There was a chant of “2024!”; he should have said, “I won’t need to run in 2024 - that’s when we will be nominating the incumbent Democrat that wins in 2020, and we need to make sure that we can do this by getting behind whoever we nominate!” ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/76 "2020-03-02T17:04:53Z")
The only way some closed door agreement didn’t happen is if he saw a blowout against him on super Tuesday and wanted to spare himself the embarrassment. I do think somebody tapped him for a cush appointment though. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/77 "2020-03-02T17:14:00Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I agree. Trump is probably the worst thing to happen to the world in 50 years. If we can’t get out shit together enough to nominate a functioning human being to run against him, that’s the government we deserve. Swinging from dictatorship to oligarchy isn’t a favorable swing. > > I thought Booker was the best candidate. I loved Pete. I think Warren would be a great President. I’d even vote for Bloomberg. I’m not a Bernie bro by any stretch. He’s like my 5th choice. I agree up to this point. > [@](#): > > Nominating Biden is the doubling down on the Hillary mistake and he doesn’t have the capacity to do the job. > > So yeah, fuck it. Burn the system and bring the revolution. So what it is you’re calling “the Hillary mistake”? It can’t be running a moderate, because that’s been exactly the Sanders-ist dig at Pete. :rolleyes: I can’t say I haven’t been concerned about Biden’s senile-sounding gaffes, but he was well-known for gaffes when he was a couple of decades younger, too. I thought he gave an excellent speech after he won in South Carolina, which of course someone wrote for him but he still delivered it well. I still don’t know if I’m going to vote for Biden or Bloomberg (or possibly someone else) in the primary until after Super Tuesday shakes out. But I don’t see what’s so horrible about Biden that picking him is “burn down the party” territory when seemingly NONE of the other candidates cause that same reaction for you. Not aimed at you particularly but a general comment: I don’t understand the sheer depths of rhetorical fire and brimstone aimed at certain candidates, seemingly aimed at caricatures of them rather than their actual selves. To me, Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, and Klobuchar all seem to have similar policy positions and all either have experience (elected mayor of the largest city in the nation, larger than some states, is experience) or demonstrated skills. I could comfortably vote for any one of them, and will decide based on who’s still in the race when my primary comes up and who seems to have a real chance at winning the nomination. But to some people, Buttigieg was a phony and worse than Trump because he worked for a consulting firm, and Bloomberg is completely indistinguishable from Trump because he’s a billionaire, never mind how many liberal causes (fighting the NRA, closing coal power plants) where he’s put his money where his mouth is. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/78 "2020-03-02T17:15:50Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I thought Booker was the best candidate. I loved Pete. I think Warren would be a great President. I’d even vote for Bloomberg. I’m not a Bernie bro by any stretch. He’s like my 5th choice. How in the world does someone prefer Bloomberg over Biden? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/79 "2020-03-02T17:21:06Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > The only way some closed door agreement didn’t happen is if he saw a blowout against him on super Tuesday and wanted to spare himself the embarrassment. I do think somebody tapped him for a cush appointment though. He hadn’t even been able to reach Biden before the announcement. Take a look at the calendar, it was the 1st of the month, I think it came down to money and no clear path ahead in ST. May as well pay the staff and not have the campaign in debt. Also, Obama did call Biden to congratulate him. No, that’s not an endorsement, but that’s not exactly being subtle either. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761/80 "2020-03-02T18:38:52Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Mayor Pete has much to offer the Democratic party going forward. I hope his talents will be well utilized by our next Democratic administration in one capacity or another. > > I’m not that surprised he suspended. I listened to him speak last night after South Carolina and half expected him to make the announcement then and there. I suspect the only reason he held off was to give Steyer the chance to do it first. > > **Klobuchar can’t be far behind.** Right on time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-buttigieg-drops-out-of-the-democratic-primary-race/848761.md?page=5)